Call of Duty: One Peice's Finest Hour
by Spontaniously Insane
Summary: The MerryGo was having a Merry time, and now they're fighing for thier lives. A Crossover between One Peice and Call of Duty: Finest Hour. Based around WWII.
1. Prologue

_**PROLOGUE**_

It was a fine day, and the crew of the Merry-Go was sailing along the Grand Line, not a care in the world. The humidity of the day made everyone sleepy, lazy, and slow. Zoro was asleep on the deck per normal, snoring. His stomach growled loudly in protest of skipping breakfast in favor of more sleep, waking the swordsman from slumber. He groaned loudly and stretched, trying to shake the sleep from his aching limbs.

"I'm hungry." He grumbled, giving words to the obvious, his stomach growling once again, this time in agreement. He yawned, not noticing the red-headed navigator looking at him from the railing. Her next comment suggested she had been listening.

"Well, Sanji's fixing lunch down stairs." Nami replied with a smirk, startling the green-haired swordsman. But he refused to show he had been startled and instead grumbled all the way down to the galley. The smell of food made his stomach growl once more in protest. Sanji was fixing something that smelled incredible and Zoro resigned himself to wait in the warm galley until the food was finished. Little did they know that all this would change very soon…

An hour later, after an exquisite lunch, the crew sat scattered in small groups around deck, lounging. Zoro and Sanji were behind the bridge, taking full advantage of the shade, Zoro snoozing once again. Luffy and Nami were in front of the bridge, watching the sky for any signs of rain and talking quietly to each other about what the next island would hold in store for them. And Usopp and Chopper were on top of the bridge watching the little birds fly by, Usopp telling glorified stories about his adventures and Chopper not really paying him any mind.

Suddenly the Merry-Go was rocked forward, flinging Nami and Luffy forward into the railing, and flinging Usopp and Chopper off the bridge with a clatter. Nami looked over the edge of the rail and noticed a large whirlpool with some glowing purple oval in the middle, eyes wide with fear. The Merry-Go was getting sucked in fast, and the crew had no time to do anything before they had all been sucked into the purple portal.


	2. The Begining

_**CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING**_

_Sanji's POV_

I woke up to Zoro shaking me vigorously, a worried look on his face. I sat up on my hands, limbs shaking with trying to hold me up; the jolt must have knocked me out. I scanned the barren landscape around me, getting paranoid when I saw nothing but smoke. I had no earthly clue where we were, or where the rest of the crew was. There was a large train behind me, spewing smoke at regular intervals and making the breathing hard. So that's where the smoke was coming from! Zoro helped me to my feet and I brushed the dust and gravel from my jacket. Checking my pocket, I cursed. I had no more cigarettes.

I noted several men in uniforms were gathering near the box cars, profanity flowing freely between them. One of them turned and approached us. His face was contorted in a scowl, yet I had given him no reason to be angry. Then I noticed it: his small brown glass like eyes were not focused on us - which is when I noticed we seemed really out of place dressed like we were - but on a clipboard with just one slip of paper on it. The medals on his shirt made me think he was some kind of higher up, and that just made me wonder more.

Where in the world had we ended up, and how did we get here?

He looked at me and gave me an odd look, like he had never noticed I had arrived, and checked the clipboard again. He then glanced at Zoro with the same look, checked his clipboard, and waved some other man over. The men exchanged foreign words and puzzled looks before they threw us each a bundle of brown clothing, a hat positioned daintily on top.

"You're with us now, son." The scarred man told us, before walking off to the front of the train, profanity once again flowing from his mouth at the other man.

"Hurry up! The train is leaving!" the shout sounded almost garbled, not like proper English, and it came from beside us, probably from the younger man checking the wooden box-cars behind the engine. Still confused as hell, we followed him, taking our bundles with us. He led us to an empty box-car and yelled at us in the foreign tongue, gesturing to our cloths and then to the bundles.

"I think he wants us to change cloths." I said, after he had shut the door mostly. We started changing into our brownish colored garb, the pants being too long or too large and the shirts being practically skin tight. The fabric itself was cheep to the touch, rough and scratchy, like it was made to be mass produced quickly with no care to whom was wearing it, yet it had an inner softness to it once it settled into place on my skin. The hats were odd and small, the same dirt brown color as all the other cloths, and Zoro just discarded his out the door like it was nothing. We hid our old cloths behind some barrels for when we went home.

If we ever got home, anyway.

Just as I got my hat to stay in place and not slide off my head, the door flung open, blinding light spilling into the dark car. I saw four figures enter the boxcar, but they were just silhouettes against the white light behind them. The door slammed closed, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light. But in that light, the four others stood out.

The first man, closest to me, had a lit cigarette in his mouth, the glow from the end making me want one for myself even more. The uniform he wore was a muddy gray-blue, with dulled silver lining and thick black boots. His hair was a dirty blonde color, cropped short and gelled forward in the front, and tapered to the nape of his neck. His eyes caught mine for only a moment, his brown flecked with blue almost smiling at me, and he flicked his cigarette up once toward the odd-colored orbs, like a sign of approval. Approval for what, I still don't know.

The man next to him was lying on his back, legs crossed and hands behind his head. He was in the same dirt colored uniform we wore, black belt, black boots and all, and he was looking at the ceiling with a small smile on his face. He reminded me of Luffy, almost, but his expression was not of being overjoyed at the prospect of adventure but a resigned content with his lot in this place.

The man next to the content one was sitting with his back spooned against a barrel, knees to his chest and his eyes flickering back and forth at all of us. He seemed incredibly paranoid about being here. He wore an apron over the standard dirt-fit, as I came to call it, and it almost made me paranoid when I saw something red all over it. I felt better thinking that it was only tomato sauce - that it was not blood - even though the sheen in the dim light made me want to think otherwise.

Then, I saw the forth. She was shorter than the rest, and her dirt-fit was better fitting and tied around the waist with a tight, buckle less black belt. She had dirty looking brown hair that barely reached the nape of her neck, parted in the middle and tucked behind her ears, one small strand falling across her forehead. She had pretty emerald eyes and the small smile on her face made her almost as pretty as Nami. She was dusting off a gun of some sort, longer and thinner than I had ever seen, with an odd tubular thing attached to the top. Her eyes caught mine and her smile faded quickly, the frown replacing it making me tense involuntarily.

"What are you looking at?" She growled softly, baring her teeth in an animalistic fashion. I just blinked once, too scare to speak.

"Don't make me shoot you." She didn't growl this time, but her words were laced with some kind of hatred, and she was holding the gun up, the odd tube to her eye. She was going to kill me! I was going to die! Oh, I do wish I had—

The man with the cigarette started chuckling, interrupting my hailstorm of last wishes and painful regrets. I stared at him and his laughing, appalled.

"Why in the world are you laughing?!" I asked rather loudly. Here I was about to die and he was laughing. The girl let out an exasperated sigh and hung her head.

"Sorry, your face just looked so funny I had to laugh! Though I doubt you didn't know this already, but she'll shoot anything that annoys her, be it tanks or officers. She shot me once, right in the Schenkel. I had to learn never to make her cross the hard way more than once." He said, the smile gracing his features barely noticeable in the dim light.

"Now, Alina, don't go shooting fresh blood." said the one who reminded me of Luffy. The pretty girl, I presume called Alina, put her gun down and scowled at him.

"I know, I know. I'm not idiotic like _two_ people in this room." Alina shot a half scowl, half smirk at the cigarette man and the one that remind me of Luffy. A look of realization struck the content one's face like a ton of bricks.

"Hey! They don't know our names yet!" Aleksandr chirped gleefully, scrambling up and stretching. Yea, definitely like Luffy. He squatted down back to my level – I had sat down on a barrel during the whole exchange of scowls - and stuck out a hand for a handshake, almost hitting my chest in doing so.

"I am Aleksandr Sokolov. Good with high rate of fire weapons." I took his hand and shook it firmly. These people were getting to be so strange they were scary. High rate of fire weapons? What in the world?

"This is Alina Valentina. Expert sniper." He gestured to Alina, and in the closed space, it almost touched her nose. She had commenced to dust off her gun once more, a scowl set in her features. She glanced up at the offending limb, looking ready to bite it off if it got any closer.

"She loves the Scoped Mosin-Nagant. She could fill you full of holes within a minute." At this comment Alina gave a curt nod and snapped her teeth once, making Aleksandr tuck the offending limb behind his back.

"And that is Borislav Mendeleev. He's a Tank commander." Aleksandr gestured with the other hand to the cigarette guy, who was tapping the ashes of his 'stick onto the crazy guy's shoe.

"Call me Borya." He said lightly, smiling.

"Alright then, Borya…" I said, trying out his name, "Do you think I could have one of those sticks? I lost all of mine." Borya fished the dented pack from his pocket and tossed one of the long, white sticks into my hands, along with a box of matches.

"Make it last kid, I don't have many of these and when I get low I won't share." He was grinning, but the threat was obvious in his voice. I lit up quickly, tossing back the matches and letting out a contented sigh. Zoro sighed as well. He was being rather quiet; maybe the jolt of the Merry-Go has upset his stomach or something. I looked back at Borya, who was poking his twitchy comrade in the arm.

"Hey, Vladimir, we have company. Tell them your name." The crazy looking man, Vladimir, twitched once and started muttering off words in the foreign language the four of them used, which seemed slightly different than the other language the scarred man had used. Vladimir glanced at Zoro, hate in his eyes, and then glanced at me. He gasped, his eyes wide with fear, and pointed at me with one shaking finger.

"German spy!! H-he's a German spy!! Nazi! Nazi devil! Get away from me, you German Nazi spy!!!" He was shrieking, and Zoro and I had to cover our ears. We exchanged confused looks. German? What was that? And what was a Nazi? And a spy? For who? What was going on here?

The four all gathered around the shrieking comrade, trying to calm him down. "Whoa!" I could hear Aleksandr's voice over Vladimir's fearful screaming,

"Calm down Vladimir! He's not a Nazi spy!" It was a good minute before the shrieking stopped, and it took two men, a strong pretty woman, and a lot of threatening with a gun to calm the poor thing down. I was starting to pity this man. Then Aleksandr turned to us.

"I'm really sorry. Vladimir had a… bad experience with a Nazi spy, and he is kind of paranoid now." Aleksandr explained, with an over use of hand gestures and a shrug. Alina sighed, running a hand through her hair, tousling it slightly, before turning to us. She scoured me with her emerald orbs, scrutinizing Vladimir's claim.

"You sure Vlad's being paranoid again?" She asked, giving me one more once-over. All eyes turned to stare at me, even Zoro's. "You have to turn your head to the side and squint a little bit, but he almost resembled one of Leyna's cousin's or something. Maybe it's just the blonde-haired, blue-eyed thing." Alina said with a half hearted shrug.

"You think all of those gray-clad devils look like her cousin's or something. Are you sure it's not just the fact you hang around her too much?" Borya's question fell on deaf ears, and that made him pout. Alina was staring at me again, and it was making me nervous.

"What's your name anyway?"

"I'm Sanji, and this is Zoro." I spoke slowly, gesturing to myself and then Zoro. Our names sounded funny to me for some odd reason. "And we aren't from around here. Can you maybe explain what's going on?" I asked. Borya choked on what was left of his cigarette, Aleksandr just gaped at us, and Alina gave us a look that said 'Where have you been?'

"I take that back. He's too out of it to be a Nazi." Alina said, going back to her Scoped Mosin-Nagant (SMN).The train lurched once, tipping me off my barrel, but not affecting anyone else in the car. I sat back next to Zoro, waiting. The door slammed completely closed, and we were in utter darkness.

We were on our way, but I didn't know where.


	3. Trench Running

_**CHAPTER 2:**__** TRENCH RUNNING**_

_Recap: We were on our way, but I didn't know where._

Zoro POV

The train lurched and started, and I felt, more than saw, Sanji sit beside me. It was silent, something I had longed for ever since we got here. These cloths, this car, everything was different, surreal… unreal. I found comfort in the blonde beside me, something in this unrealistic place that would never change. He still ogled women, be it this 'Alina' or Nami, and he still did that thing with the cigarette, flicking it up to almost touch his nose, and then down to the side dumping the ashes to the ground.

The warmth he emanated, his thin waist and sharp boned back pressed against my side was something I was used to and glad for. Even the awful lurching of the thing we were on felt almost like we had never left the Merry-Go.

Damn, sometimes I wish my mind wouldn't do that. Now I just want to be home again.

My mind started racing, thinking thoughts that had already crossed it over once, twice, maybe even more. Where were we? How did we get here? What are we doing next? Where are we going? Are we here for some underlying reason that only fate knows of?

Sanji elbowed me sharply. He must have thought I had fallen asleep. People tend to do that. I close my eyes and think, and people think I fall asleep. I yawned; I may have not been asleep but I was tired. My back ached, a dull pain, and my right arm was asleep from being stuck behind Sanji's…

Wait a moment - How long had I been like this? The train was still moving at an even pace and the light from the…

Damn, I must have fallen asleep. The sunlight from under the door looks more like moonlight. How long has it been, then? An hour? Two? Three?

Sanji elbowed me again. I looked up. The guy, Alex-salamander something, I can't remember, must have been talking. He didn't look happy. Everyone else looked asleep. Why couldn't I be sleeping too? I felt my eyelids droop slightly and---

"Zoro, listen!" Sanji hissed quietly into my ear. So much for falling back to sleep.

"As I was saying, we are headed to Stalingrad. We have to take it back from the Germans and keep them away from the oil fields. Stay with Alina or Borya. They know this place better than you." Aleksandr motioned to both of them. I don't think he knew they were asleep.

"Why should I listen to you?" I protested, habitually reaching for my swords. And… they weren't there. I knew that, I must have, when did I forget? Aleksandr turned to Borya and kicked his shin, making the elder cry out.

"Hey, Borya wake up!" Once satisfied that the man was awake, he continued. "Back me up here. We have a possible rebel on our hands." He spoke with authority, like he knew what he was up against. Yea right. Borya looked at him like he had grown another limb from his forehead.

"How? I am just a lowly Tank commander." Borya shrugged. He was playing innocent, I could tell. He was trying to conceal a smirk, and it was working pretty well. His comment made Aleksandr's eye twitch.

"Borya, you're a Lieutenant." Aleksandr spoke like he was telling something very obvious to a boy with mental issues. "You have more power than I do." Aleksandr had an edge to his voice, and I swear I felt Sanji tense beside me.

"Why should I help you? You have done nothing for me." Borya let his smirk loose and gave him a half-shrug. Aleksandr was steaming and I expected his head to burst into flames. That would be really funny right now, actually. He started yelling at Borya in their language, and Borya started yelling back. It was an insult war, I think. I couldn't tell, I don't speak foreign. Alina coughed once, more of an ahem, really, and raised her SMN to her eye. That time, I know Sanji flinched. This Alina was just plain scary.

"Aleksandr…" She muttered softly when her 'ahem' didn't catch his attention. The man in question turned to face her and his eyes went wide. That certainly caught his full and desired attention.

"I See You…" Alina said, smirking. Aleksandr jumped about three feet in the air and scrambled for cover. Said cover happened to be myself and Sanji. Alina then shifted her gaze to Borya, who cowered in his uniform. He looked like he had wet himself, the poor guy. Then Alina aimed at us.

"You should listen to us because other wise we, meaning me, will shoot you." She spoke softly, placing her gun in her lap, smirking. The train lurched to a sudden stop, and the door opened again. It was night, or at least as dark as it. A heavy haze of steam hung about everything, and the sky was black with smoke. I could hear bullets, and from the way Sanji wasn't letting go of my arm, he could too.

We were herded, along with Aleksandr, into a small dingy. It didn't look like it could float at all, let alone hold the twenty so men they wanted to put in it. They eventually settled for six, three of which were Aleksandr, Sanji and myself. A tall, heavily built man stood up in the front of the boat, and how the thing didn't go belly up is beyond me. He started speaking in such a heavy accent, I don't know how I understood him, but I did.

"Welcome to Stalingrad. You're about to begin the greatest moment of your life." That was such a lie.

"The Germans have lost hundreds of tanks and planes. Hitler's brutalized hordes are now advancing toward Stalingrad over mountains of there own dead bodies." What the hell. Who is this Hitler, and when did he get hordes? And the phrase 'dead bodies'? Really didn't settle with me well.

"Our Bolshewk party, our nation, our great country, have given us the task not to let the enemy reach the Volga, and to defend the city of Stalingrad!" Whoa, slow down. Speak the not foreign, please. 'Our' nation? 'Our' great country? You mean 'your' stuff, buddy. I don't even know where we are. And what in the world is a Volga?

He gesture to the blood stricken battle zone behind him. It was total chaos. I saw one guy fly up into the air, and land in the water with a scream. Sanji was gripping my arm so tight, I couldn't feel my fingers. A large, missile looking thing hit the water next to our boat, making it lean sharply to the left and shaking the crap out of everyone. Yet the guy was still standing. That… was just plain creepy.

"Forward against the enemy! Up into the unremitting battle, comrades, for Stalingrad, for our great country! Not one step back!" 'Unremitting battle'? We're going to go die because a guy in a boat told us to? As I thought this, two men jumped out of the boat. So then there were four. The man in the front pulled a pistol, something I even remotely recognized, and he shot at them.

That was why we're doing this. He'll shoot us.

"Cowards and traitors will be shot! Do not count days, do not count miles, count only the number of Germans you have killed!" Can I count how many times I wish I was home instead, buddy? Without my swords I don't think I could really kill anything.

"Kill the German; this is your mother's prayer! Kill the German; this is the cry of your Russian earth!" Number 1: I don't think my mother really cares who I kill, thank you. Number 2: Is that were we are? Russian? Where on the Grand Line is THAT? And it's not MY earth, what ever it is.

"Do not waver! Do not let up! Kill!" So… you want us, to go die, for a place we've never heard of, and you want us to go kill people, and we don't even know why we're fighting them? I'm starting to believe this man has eaten some kind of 'Crazy Fruit'.

"Death to the German invader!" This cry was met with cheers from the men in the boat, well, all but me and Sanji anyway. We were hustled out onto the weather worn dock, and onto dry land. I wanted to cheer, that boat was DEFINETLY going to sink sometime soon. We were handed packets of bullets, long and pointed, but I saw no point. We had no guns. Why give us ammo and no guns? What are we gonna do, throw this at them?

There was a shout from ahead of us, and we were herded towards it. It was like they thought we wouldn't walk in the right direction without help. Sanji was staring the wounded and blood covered men lying on cots near us. One groaned and reached for his hand, like he could help, and Sanji quickly switched to grip at my other arm. Great, now I'm going to have TWO purple arms.

We noticed Vladimir cooking something that smell so wonderful, I wanted to stop and eat. If my stomach hadn't lost its voice at the sight of the blood covered men it would have agreed. Another shout made Sanji tear me away from the promise of food and the warm fire to meet the man who had been shouting at us for the past, I don't know, twenty minutes? I would have hoped he had lost his voice, but nope, he was still in a screaming mood.

"Hey, Sanji," I whispered to the blonde, just before we reached the really big hole in the ground and the grumpy man standing by it, "Is it just me or does it sound like we have a good chance of being killed around here?" He nodded. I put my hands on his shoulders, trying to get him to not freak out.

Then I realized something. Sanji… was about to freak out. That never happened. Ever.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, concerned. If it freaked him out, I might as well scream.

"Yea, kinda… It's just the fact that we don't know where we are, we don't know anyone here anymore, we're in strange cloths and expected to either die or kill people and it's just making no sense!" His last words were more screamed than anything, but he was right. We were in a dog-eat-dog world now and the fact that it was so different… it was scary in its own right.

"Zoro… I want to go home…" he muttered softly. I nodded, understanding him completely.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this and get back to the Merry-Go and… and I promise I'll try that cherry-thing you wanted to make for me and… and if I don't like it you… you can hit me over the head with a frying pan, ok?" I was just trying to raise his spirits when I said this, but I knew he'd remember my promise when, or if, we got home. But it was worth seeing him smile again, at least that once, and just knowing everything will turn out alright anyway, no matter what happened next.

That said and done, we turned the corner to finally great Mr. Grumpy. He looked young, which was odd, seeing he had the lungs of an older man. I checked his uniform when I realized he probably wasn't going to give us his name. A name tag on his breast pocket read Oleg Puskov.

"You're with me. Pay attention and follow my orders or I'll shoot you myself." I was already beginning to hate this guy, and he hadn't even said 'Hello' yet.

"Quickly, we're expected at the front lines!" He ran into the large hole and we followed, Sanji clinging to my arm and I clinging to his. He stopped and we almost plowed into him. He pointed up a hill, past brick buildings and parts of walls to what looked like a large fire, burning behind closed walls.

"The fascists have reached the park, and are about to cut Stalingrad in half! We must stop them at all costs!" I wanted to make sure he knew those were HIS costs, not ours. He started up the hill and we tried to stay as close as we could. Black marks and holes were everywhere, and dead bodies littered the ground. I had to close my eyes for a second before I threw up. A bullet whizzed over my head, cutting a few hairs, and we all ducked to avoid others. Sanji's grip tightened on my arm and I returned the squeeze, giving him a reassuring smile.

"They're stopped shelling the boats. Be ready for anything." Puskov said, as he continued moving down the trench. I really wanted to stuff a sock in his mouth, he was getting annoying.

"If you hear the whistle of the artillery, then the explosion is not far off." Several men jumped over our heads, and we all ducked. They were running from something, back down the hill, all scared spit-less. I looked back behind us and winced when an officer shot another man just because he was deemed a 'traitor'. Sanji stood up, despite the tugging on his sleeve courtesy of me, to take a look at the battlefield around us. We heard a gun go off and I tugged him back down behind the wooden wall. His hat floated down to meet us, a small pea-sized hole clean through it. It was smoking and we exchanged scared looks. That… could have been… Sanji's head. I gulped. We were called again, and I had a mind to yell right back at him. Instead, we crawled to him at the end of the wooden blockade, and an explosion sound pretty close off.

"Incoming! Get down!" Puskov yelled as a large, metal pipe rolled over our heads. So that was what the men were running from. He got up, tugged us both to our feet, and then dove into a mortar hole. We followed suit so we wouldn't die.

I was actually starting to want one of those cherry-things Sanji had wanted me to try.

"Wait here and stay close to me." He said softly. We actually did as we were told, not knowing what lay ahead.


	4. Friends, Family and Snipers?

_**CHAPTER THREE: FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND…SNIPERS?**_

_Recap:_ _"Wait here and stay close to me." He said softly. We actually did as we were told, not knowing what lay ahead. _

Sanji's POV

He ran, and we followed, hiding behind half blown walls and large bunkers, all the while being hailed by bullets and 'shells' as Puskov referred to them. We didn't know what else we could do. I saw men, running for their lives down the hill or toward us. Suddenly, their bodies would contort and seize upon itself, like one having a seizure. Then they would fall to the ground in an unnatural slump, never to rise again.

It was the kind of thing I never want to see again, and yet the images haunt my dreams on silent, cold nights. The worst part was the screaming. I never knew a man who could scream at such a high pitch for so long. The screaming was painful to hear, bloodcurdling and all around scary. Men were dieing, becoming just another thing that sinks into the soil. Just another soul, wasted, gone forever.

The scariest part: I knew that could have been, or could be _me_.

Finally, Puskov reached a large pipe and hustled us into it. My legs were aching by this point, and ducking to get in the small tube made my neck hurt like hell. Emerging from the pipe, I popped my now stiff neck and took a good look around. We were in a building, large and square, with pipes coming out of the floor. Said pipes were on fire, and the roof which it probably had once was destroyed, gone.

The glow coming from those pipes was a warm red in most places but a glaring fire-red in others. I knew what was in those pipes with tops had to be flammable and dangerous. Gun-powder for the pistols and those other things? No, they definitely wouldn't want those burning. I guess I was walking without knowing it, because I heard a shot go off and felt a hand on my arm. I was tugged backwards onto the ground with a loud thump.

I glared up at Zoro and smacked at his offending hand on my arm. He didn't let go, just stared, bewildered by something on my face. I scratched at an itch on my nose involuntarily and a sharp pain erupted from it. I looked at my hand. Blood, wet shining dark red blood, graced my fingers. I found a reflective surface by the wall, and just gaped at my reflection. I had a small cut on the ball of my nose.

I had actually been that close t death and I never knew it.

My horror at my near-death experience was cut short by shouting, loud and obnoxious. Sometimes I wish people would let me think. This was the second time in a good number of hours someone had interrupted my thought. I resigned to look over with a scowl.

"Die you Nazi devils!" A man was standing right in front of me, in the line of fire. He shot twice to my right, past my line of vision, which was blocked by a make-shift wooden blockade. I closed my eyes, but I knew what happened when I heard the rapid ratta-tatta of bullets, and that awful sound of metal ripping through flesh. I could see in my minds eye, his body contorting and twisting, mouth open in a scream he could never get to let out. I winced, and from the pressure on my shoulder, I'm pretty sure Zoro noticed, and understood.

That's why I'm glad he was with me, he understands.

"You two, take his rifles!" I looked up, wrinkling my nose at the awful stench of blood I thought we were free from when we left the battle field, and sending a sharp pain though my nose. Puskov was pointing at a pair of those long, thin pistols everyone had. He called them rifles, not sure why. They're just guns.

Zoro bravely rushed past me before I could stand and grabbed the rifles, a hailstorm of bullets raining down upon him. One sliced his uniform on his shoulder but drew no blood, and for that I was thankful. He handed me one gently and I held it for a moment, testing it. It was light, made of polished wood and metal, yet it had a substantial weight in my hands. I gripped it like I had seen Puskov doing with his 'rifle', and was surprised how nicely it fit into my hands. The trigger was incredibly pressure sensitive, and it was almost scary how easily I could mess up and hurt myself or Zoro. I crouched, resting the gun barrel on the blockade top and looked right down the barrel at my targets.

There was a stone door and a window carved a good twenty feet away from us. Two Germans stood in the door frame, half hiding behind the door, gray uniforms barely visible against the dark behind them. Every so often one would lean out, take a look and maybe fire a decent shot. I noticed their helmets had mesh rope on them and stuck out like a sore thumb.

One stood in the window, I could see him clearly. I'm not sure he knew I could see him. I could see a few more scattered silhouettes about the room behind them, pacing. All seemed armed to the teeth with guns, small and compact, made entirely of metal. I took careful aim at a helmet when one leaned out and I felt my finger squeeze the trigger hard. His helmet flew off and he fell to the ground, another one taking his place. Zoro shot him in the chest, but every time one went down, another took his place. I thought we would never stop shooting them.

"Alright, storm the Refinery! Kill them all!" Puskov suddenly yelled, shaking me from my methodical routine of wait, shoot, dead, wait, shoot, dead. It took me a moment to realize I was killing people. Men with families, probably children and wives.

And yet I never realized how nonchalantly I was doing that; killing men one after another, like beasts to a slaughter.

I started feeling sick. Zoro helped me to my feet and made sure I didn't fall over into the blockade or the bunker. I felt better after a moment, and we headed into the dark, wooden room beyond the door.

Upon entering the room, we ran to the windows to stand beside everyone else. Germans ran in the street, some stopping to shoot at us, some continuing to run past my line of view. Everyone was firing, some at those running, some at those firing back. I fired once, twice, and was back into a routine. I never actually had control over my limbs during those few moments; they just did what they needed to do. If I had stopped for more than the second it took to reload, I would have died.

Finally, after who knows how long, more men, dressed like we were, appeared out of the gate before me and chased the last remaining enemy men past where I could see. I didn't care. I was feeling sick again.

"Yes!!" Puskov said, running past us to a hole in the wall. I watched him, the sick feeling fading. Zoro glanced at me, worried.

"Are you alright, Sanji?" He asked. "You're starting to look really green." I shook my head slightly, indicating I was fine.

"I'm not fond of this." I muttered. He nodded, understanding as always.

"Watch my back as I clear out the rubble." Puskov yelled from behind the wall, planting a bomb. It began to tick ominously, enough to drive one insane. "Explosive! Look out!" He ducked back to where we stood just as the whole wall exploded. The dust hadn't even settled before he ran through it. I couched as we made our way through the fine dust and debris, lungs wanting to reject the small bits of finely crusted stone in the air. We reached behind Puskov and after I caught my breathe; all we could do was stare.

A large wall stood to my right, with a large opening in the middle. Hundreds of men stood, lined up against the wall, and another man was rallying them together.

"Forward!" He cried, pumping his fist in the air high. The men let out a cheer of 'Forward!' after him, making the same hand motion.

"Defend you mothers!" He cried, as a loud, shrill whistle blew somewhere far off. 'Forward' came the cry of the soldiers once more.

It was like the man was preparing them for a suicide charge.

"Death to the German invaders!" This cry was answered once more by the men. The silence after was stifling. Puskov scowled as the men swarmed through the opening. I could already hear them dieing, mingled with faint cries of 'Forward!'

"It's a mass attack. They're heading straight for the machine guns. I know a better way in. Follow me." Puskov said gravely. We had no choice but to follow him past the wall and through an opening farther from the mass murder that was occurring near us. We stopped atop metal rails in the ground and a wheeled machine was tipped over near them. In front of us several men stood guarding a door way, all armed. Zoro, Puskov and I shot them down easily. That was scary.

"Take out the machine gun! Kill them all!" Puskov cried. We ran into the next room and Zoro bravely smacked down the man firing the really fast gun, I'm pretty sure Puskov called them 'machine guns'. I let out a heavy sigh. We seemed safe here.

"You're still alive comrades. I'm impressed. Follow me." We followed Puskov through another door into another room, unsure of the future ahead of us.

"Mamev Kurgen is just ahead. But first we need to flush the Germans out of this building. Give us the signal to go." I looked at Zoro with a confused expression on my face, and he pointed quickly to the door. I shrugged and kicked it in, hoping that was what he ment. It came down with a thud, instead of crushing like most doors I kick, and scattered dust everywhere. I was puzzled; either that door was strong, or my kick wasn't as good as it used to be. I stood there for a moment and Zoro had to yank me out of the door frame by my shirt. Bullets rushed by where I had just stood.

"You really need to pay more attention Sanji. You could get killed out here." He whispered in my ear as the troops rushed in past us. The close proximity made me turn red, and I prayed Zoro would either not notice or overlook it like it was nothing. We cleared out two rooms in the same fashion and descended a flight of stairs to a room with many windows.

"There is the park! Quickly comrades, set up the machine gun in this window!" Puskov said, leading two men with 'machine gun' parts to one window. They set it up quickly and began shooting. Puskov crouched in the other window, and we stayed in the covered space in between so we wouldn't get shot. The man shooting the gun was suddenly killed with a blow to the chest and I took his place. I shot every gray-clad man that I saw and Zoro helped me see the ones that were obscured by my view.

"German Sniper! Look out comrade!" Puskov said, shoving me out of the way. I had no time to blink. He got shot once at that very moment and fell to the ground in a tattered slump. I rushed over to him and shook him once. He was dead.

Well, now what do we do?

Suddenly, a lady came through a hole in the ceiling. I recognized the boots and for a second thought it was the pretty girl from earlier. But her hair was darker and her eyes were darker too. And she was taller looking with a bigger chest.

"There you are..." She said, firing at the man that had shot Puskov. "I've been hunting that bastard all day. I'm sorry you lost your sergeant, comrade. We won't let his sacrifice go to waste…" He accent was thicker than the others, and she was barely understandable.

"TANYA!" The shout startled me, and I jumped back away from Puskov's body and into Zoro's arms. My face lit up like a beacon. "Where are you?"

"I'm down here!" The lady called back. Her name was Tanya. Pretty name, but nothing like Nami's. "There's a hole in the ceiling… or floor for you!"

"Where?! I can't see anything in here! It's too dark!" Tanya sighed and used the slats in the wood of the wall to climb up and poke her head through the hole she had come through.

"ALINA! Borya said you were blind in the dark but I thought he was kidding. No wonder you hate night-fights!"

"Tanya!" Tanya led the battered form of Alina through the hole by the hand. Alina had a shoulder wound, and it was bleeding profusely. I stood to help her but she shoved at my chest lightly, a small sign that said 'Back off, buster.' I stepped back warily. She mumbled foreign words to herself as she tore a piece of her shirt off and skillfully wrapped up her wound.

"I have a job for you three." Tanya said to the three of us, changing the subject so quickly I almost missed it. "The Fascists are using the view from that bunker to call in artillery strikes all over the city. We can't take back Stalingrad unless we control that bunker. You three lead the men up the hill. Start by taking out the pillboxes. I'll keep you covered from here. That Nazi flag must fall." She was pointing to a large stone structure on top the hill outside the windows. Alina nodded curtly and grabbed a small, metal gun like I had seen earlier from the floor. She threw us each one as well.

The metal was cold and had a weight to it, unlike the 'rifles' we had earlier. I remembered the firepower the guns had, but it was confusing why she was giving me one to use. It wasn't mine; it belonged to a dead man.

"Drop you rifles. You're not going to need those." Alina snapped at us, and we quickly did as we were told. She then turned to Tanya with her half smirk, half scowl. "You better keep us covered. I can't afford to keep both of these boys safe. I have my own hide to protect." Tanya nodded as Alina shouldered her SMN.

"Why are you taking that? I thought you said we didn't need rifles?" I asked her as we headed down another flight of stairs. That word felt funny to me, I never imagined using it.

"You never know…" Alina smirked and led us outside. We had to follow at a fast rate to keep up. She led us around a wall and into a hole in the ground. We ran through the hole and came upon the first 'pillbox', which was just a stone room with a hole in it and a gun. Zoro smacked the gunner on the back of the head and killed him instantly. Alina grabbed her SMN and shot near the window where Tanya should have been standing. Tanya noticed and smiled, returning the shot from a different window.

"See?" Alina said proudly. We ran to the next pillbox, and then the last, killing them off methodically, before heading up to the bunker.

"I bet you there are lots of Germans in there…"Alina said, facing the door to the bunker. She had a really large gun in her hands. The metal was almost black and it looked heavy as lead.

She kicked open the door and let out a barrage of fire. The weapon shot fire from the end when it was going off and never stopped until the clip of ammo was completely gone, and it took seconds to reload. Screams of pain came through the door first, followed by bullets in a massive rate of fire. They sliced their way past Alina, sending blood spurting from the wounds on her arms and shoulders and face, one lodging itself in her shoulder.

But Alina persisted until all of the men inside were dead. The she fell backwards; dropping the gun with a loud clatter. Zoro ran in and raised the flag like we were told to do, while I checked over Alina. She was alive, but barely, and she was loosing a lot of blood, fast. I picked her up gently, smearing her blood across my arms and chest in the process. She was lighter than she looked and a lot thinner under her belt, too.

We ran back to the house were Tanya greeted us lightly. She led us up into the top rooms, not seeming very worried about Alina at all.

"Is she going to be… alright?" I asked quietly as Tanya took the ailing girl from my arms and laid her on a battered old cot. The moment Alina touched the cot she let out a groan of pain and winced. The cot was turning red with her blood.

"She's not going to die, I can tell you that." Tanya was tearing off the girl's shirt quickly, leaving it mostly intact. Alina wore a stained, off white tank-top undershirt, which was becoming red. Tanya started wrapping white cloth around the wounds until they were all covered. The shoulder wound looked bad, but the bullet had already come loose and all it needed was a bandage like the rest. After moments of silence, Alina shot up in the cot, breathing heavily.

"Ah… No, No! Stay!" Tanya commanded, prompting several obsinities from Alina. Eventually, after a few minutes of foreign cursing, pushing, shoving, and yelling, Alina finally won the right to sit up. Tanya sighed and wiped some sweat off her forehead with a weak chuckle.

"If those Krauts were anything like you, we'd all be in trouble." Tanya laughed, watching Alina pout sullenly. "You're more stubborn than Borya!" This comment prompted laughter from both woman, and the lighthearted tone in the room made me smile. I removed my own shirt and set it aside; it was covered in thick red blood and I didn't want to wear it until it was clean.

A sudden sound from below, like someone running into a chair, made Tanya groan rather loudly and Alina laugh harder than before. Anyone could tell it was Aleksandr running into the bookcase on the stairs. Moments later he poked his head past the door and grinned.

"They're up here, Borya!!" He called. A sudden rush of blue signaled the arrival of Borya, and it was Tanya's turn to laugh hard as he pulled the battered Alina into a bear hug worthy of a true bear.

"Put… me… DOWN." Alina snarled loudly, somehow pushing him off without the use of her arms. He hit the floor with a thud, almost on my legs. I think we need a bigger room.

The silence when Alina sat back down on the cot was so thick Zoro could have cut it up with his swords. I could hear the faint rattle of guns very far off, accompanied with a loud boom every-so-often. Still, the silence in the room at that time, and even outside our safe-house, was complete and utter. Not even a breathe could be heard outside.

Something didn't feel right.

Everyone looked tired; Alina was already asleep on her cot. Tanya took a sitting position beside the cot, Borya taking the other. Aleksandr had left and Zoro was half-asleep beside me. I suddenly felt tired myself, and after a moment I found myself half-asleep, head resting on Zoro's shoulder. He was asleep then too, along with Tanya. Borya was still smoking, so I knew he was awake. I closed my eyes slightly, so very tired. Stupid atmosphere. I don't want to sleep…

Movement caught my eye and I looked up. Borya was standing, and I saw his long coat slide off his shoulders and onto the floor. He picked it up and brushed it off roughly, dust scattering from the fabric. He then wrapped the garment around Alina's sleeping frame and sat back down in naught but his un-buttoned, button-up shirt. I suddenly realized how cold it was and was very glad for Zoro's warmth beside me.

Something had brushed lightly against my fingers. I looked down at the cigarette and the box of matches by my hand. I looked up and faintly caught Borya's smirk. I nodded, he nodded back. We needed no words to say 'thank you' or 'you're welcome'.

I put the stick in my pocket with a match and slid the box back over to him. Finally, I felt right in this world. Zoro beside me, a cigarette in my pocket, and some outsider who acted almost like he knew me.

And, for some reason, I believe he just might have.


	5. BoomBoom Borya

**_CHAPTER FOUR: BOOM-BOOM BORYA _**

**__**

_Recap: And, for some reason, I believe he just might have. _

Zoro's POV

Morning crept up through the windows far sooner than I had hoped. I felt like I had barely slept, and my stomach was growling in protest to the lack of food. Sanji still snoozed beside me, his head resting slightly on my shoulder. I was the only one awake at that point, but it would take hell and high water to keep it that way.

I stood, making sure Sanji didn't fall over, and walked over to the darker headed girl. I prodded her sharply with the butt of her gun, and she groaned in protest to the wake up call. I then gave the other blonde a kick in the shin, and he cried out in pain. That, effectively, woke everyone else.

I felt very satisfied for getting every body up in such a fashion. The girl on the cot gave me a look that instantly made any satisfied feelings I had disappear very fast. The older blonde stood, and he almost towered over me at his full height. He must have been slouching a lot before because I never remember him being that tall. He had hate in his eyes.

"Borya! No time for that!" The darker headed lady was speaking franticly, and everyone else was standing and beginning toward the door.

"Why? I just want to throw him out the window. I haven't thrown anyone since that time with Little Klaus and that was an accident!" Borya complained loudly.

"Yes, Borya. Just throw him to the Tiger tank out there that _doesn't know we are here._ Then let's all stand and wait for the roof to cave in when it _fires on us._" The darker headed girl spat, taking his arm and dragging him to the door. I followed, catching up with Sanji, who was staring out the window. A huge metal object with a long slender tube attached to it was slowly crawling its way toward the building. I looked back quickly and Borya gave me an ugly look. I ran to catch up with him and the rest of the group, and a loud bang echoed around the building from outside. Bits of stone and cement rained down on us from above.

"Nice going, you blockhead!" The shorter girl shouted to Borya. "Now they know we are here. If this caves in on us I'm blaming you." She shoved him once, lightly, in warning. He stepped back, watching everyone else run past him. I was last in line and he grabbed me by my shirt.

"Look, carrot boy. We'll finish this later." Borya spat on my shoe when he said this, before tossing me softly back and running out the door. I followed quickly after, the gravel from the ceiling growing more consistent with every bang of the metal thing outside. I made it outside and tripped over a fallen body, landing at Sanji's feet. He was in the middle of helping me up when the building suddenly shook violently. I scrambled to my feet and the group raced for cover behind a mangled piece of metal. We watched in horror as a good portion of the building fell in on itself, turning to nothing but rubble.

A wave of smoke washed over us, making it hard to breathe. The smoke was scalding hot and I could feel it begin to burn my skin. It was impossible to see your hand in front of your face, and I could barely tell up from down.

I was mid-cough, choking on the clouded air, when I felt a large hand on my back. I was shoved down close to the ground very roughly, and I swore something awful to the bulky body in the dust above me. The air was less cloudy down near the ground, and I was able to breathe again. I glanced up at the bulky shadow above me, ready to swear the crap out of him for shoving me, but before I could speak the mysterious shadow shoved a white cloth over my mouth and gestured toward other rushing shadows.

I ran toward the rest of the group and almost slammed into Sanji. Everyone was gathered in a huddle near the outer edge of the smoke, waiting. I noticed that the younger girl and Borya were missing. I saw pieces of flaming wood and debris through the thick black smoke and had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. The older girl approached Sanji, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. I could see tears in her eyes.

"Sanji… we can't wait any longer. They don't have much of a chance. If they aren't already dead they will be soon. That Tiger tank is going to plow through here and they will be either shot or run over. I-I'm sorry but we have to leave now or we'll die as well." She spoke grimly, her grip tightening on Sanji's shoulder. I saw him tense under her grip and grabbed him around the shoulders before he could run off into that mess of metal and fire.

"No!" He shouted, struggling against me as I held him back. "I'm not leaving Alina in there! She's… She's my friend and I'm not leaving her to die! You're cowards! All of you! YOU WON'T EVEN SAVE YOUR OWN FRIEND!" He was angry with her and his words hit a nerve. Hard. She fumed for a moment and before I could speak she slapped Sanji as hard as she could.

"Coward? COWARD?!" She shouted, tears flowing down her grimy cheeks. "How DARE YOU! Alina is the closest thing I have to a family and if I knew she was still within bounds of saving I would risk everything to do so! But rushing in there now would be suicide! ALINA WOULD NOT WANT US TO SACRIFICE OURSELVES FOR HER SAKE!" Her voice rose to a higher level to be heard over the beginning of something Sanji had to say. After a second of silence, the older girl continued.

"She wouldn't be able to live with herself if you ran in there and died for her. She would… She would shoot herself before she could even think of living with it. You don't know her, boy. You don't understand what she's been through. If she were alive she'd…" The elder girl cut off her sentence, overcome with sobbing. That Salamander boy came running from nowhere and stopped, panting. He counted us, and upon noticed that the younger girl was missing, he wrapped the older girl in a hug. She sobbed into his shirt, the high-pitched noise she was making seeming out of place. I felt Sanji relax into my arms slightly, his own sobs wracking his frame. I held onto him for a moment, burying my head into his hair.

After a moment, we all started off toward another building, two of us still sobbing. I was holding onto Sanji, supporting him as he walked. The older girl was walking ahead of us with Salamander holding onto her. I felt like there was a large hole in our group now, a large black spot where Borya and the younger girl would have been.

We were missing that smile Borya would always have on his face that could cheer up a room full of unhappy people. We were missing the sarcastic anger and almost funny smirk that younger girl would have used against Borya's smile. We were missing the arguing, the chasing, and the simple silliness that they brought into our little circle of mismatched people. We were missing the light hearted, free spiriting man called Borya, whom I had just realized was the one who saved my life even though he wasn't too happy with me. And we were missing the snarky, sarcastic wit of the invincible girl who always got mad at him.

I felt tears begin to well up behind my eyes and I fought them back. I was not going to cry, not now, not in front of Sanji. I was not going to act like a sissy. I barely knew these people yet I felt like I had known them for years.

We entered the next building and made our way to the second floor silently, nothing stopping us. Salamander and the older girl sat down across from the windows and we sat down across from them, facing the door.

"Tanya, Tanya… It's alright. Alina was a brave woman, and she died with honor in her heart." Salamander cooed to his distressed female partner. Tanya suddenly began sobbing into his front again, louder and harder than ever before. I felt Sanji stand beside me, and I watched him go over to her. He gave her a pat on the back and she latched onto him like he was the only one who understood. Salamander stood and walked over to sit by me as Sanji and Tanya cried together.

"Alina was all she had." Salamander told me. "They lived in the same village, right next door to each other. Alina was all she had left that she could call family. But now she's… she's… she's gone." He stifled a sob himself. Suddenly, I heard the most sarcastic voice coming from the doorway and I felt my heart do a tailspin. All our heads turned toward the open door.

"Who said I was gone, hm?" Alina was leaning on the doorframe, smiling. Her voice had a harsh rasp to it, like it had dried in the sun, and she was covered with soot and ash. Her boots looked melted around the soles and she had a hole burnt into her sleeve. Her bandages were charred cinders and she was burned on every patch of skin she had showing.

"Alina!" Tanya hopped up without another word and swept the battered girl into a hug. "My goodness, you look awful! What happened?!" Tanya held Alina by the shoulders, looking her over at arm's length.

"I got lost and fell into a flaming hole full of crap. I've had better days, trust me." Alina shrugged. Her wit was no worse for wear. Tanya stepped aside and let Sanji past her. He gave Alina a hug and she hugged him back tightly. Salamander didn't get up for a hug, and neither did I.

"Tanya, why didn't you wait for me?" Alina asked, a hint of hurt in her voice. Tanya turned a rather dark shade of red.

"We… I thought you were dead, Alina. I'm sorry." Tanya muttered softly. The silence was thick as the smoke she had just escaped from.

"Where's Borya?" Salamander asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes, where is he? He should have been back by now…" Tanya pondered. "He's not one to be late, either…" She glanced over at me and gave me a sarcastic, accusing stare. "You didn't hurt him, now, did you?" She asked me, almost laughing. I shook my head no, a smile spreading on my face. I could almost see Borya smiling at that joke.

No matter how much I hate that man, he still grew on me.

"Borya was captured by the Germans." Alina shattered any hope of happiness we were trying to have. "He's being held for questioning. I heard them notice his badge. He's being taken to a safe-house not far from here." She looked about to cry, but kept her face straight.

"So, we're going to help you rescue him, eh? Or are you planning to do it alone?" Tanya asked, putting an arm around Alina gently. They did actually look like sisters… at a distance… and only if you squinted your eyes shut almost all the way.

"I thought about doing it solo but then I realized something. What was the fun in that?" Alina grinned, and everyone laughed. Even I started laughing. Damn contagious laughter.

"So, let's get this over with. It's getting colder by the minute and if we don't get there by nightfall we'll all freeze to death. Why does it half to be so cold?" Salamander commented. He rushed over to a closet on the other side of the room and fetched out six thick brown coats with fluffy inner stuffing, six big brown hats with ear covers and fluffy lining, and six pairs of big brown boots with the same fluffy lining.

"Salamander, why such big fluffy stuff? It's not that cold." I stated, holding up a coat. He kinda looked at me like I was crazy for a second, and then he smiled.

"It's going to be by the time we leave. And my name is Aleksandr. Pronounced Al-ik-sand-er. I'm not a newt." He chuckled to himself as he helped Tanya get her coat on. I felt a cold wind blow through the windows and shivered, watching the ground begin to turn white with snow.

"So, when do we leave?"


	6. In the Lion's Den

**_WARNING: _**Seriously torture here, folks. Not necessery for the plot, mostly an inside look on what Borya got to experence while Alina and Sanji and them were on thier way.

And I must lewt ya'll know how much I loved writing in Ferdinand's accent. It's so sex-licious. XD

**_CHAPTER 5: IN THE LION'S DEN _**

_Recap: "So, when do we leave?" _

Borya's POV

It was hazy, after the building imploded. I couldn't see, I could barely breathe, and I had only one purpose on my mind – getting everyone else out first. In retrospect, I should have made getting myself out more important that getting carrot boy out. But hey, hindsight is 20/20, and I'm a sucker for saving people, hate them or not.

After that, I blacked out. It was probably from getting hit by something, since smoke cannot do anything worse to my lungs at this point. How long I was blacked out, I also don't know. And hour? Two? Ten? I couldn't tell. I guess it wasn't too long, though, because after two hours or so I'd expect to see Alina come bursting through the doors to rescue me. She was always one for punctuality.

When I came to, I was on my feet (surprisingly) up next to a wall. I could taste blood in my mouth and my forehead felt like someone had driven a hammer into it. I could feel a stream of cold, thick liquid running down my nose, which only made me feel worse about the mess I ended up getting into. I realized, after I regained a sense of balance and coordination, that my knees were bent and most of my weight was on my wrists.

Ok, so technically, I was not on my feet, I was hanging from the ceiling. I straightened my legs and managed to stand for a moment, but that was all they could take. My legs gave way and I fell completely to the floor, somehow dislodging the thing that was keeping me upright.

I groaned, stifling the urge to swear repeatedly, and sat up, links of chain cascading into my lap. My hands were bound tightly with thick rope, cutting into my skin and bleeding rather freely. Luckily, I was still in my shirt, pants and boots. Otherwise, I'd probably been an icicle by then; it was barely over freezing point in that little room.

The room was dark gray all around, and small enough that I could reach each corner with out taking more than two or three steps. A cell door stood in the corner opposite me; it was barred shut. I swore to nothing in particular about that – that was my once chance to get out of there.

The door creaked loudly as it opened to let someone in, and scared the crap out of me. I jumped up onto my feet, pressing my back against the wall, biting my lip to keep from shrieking like a little girl. That was one of my many bad habits that I really needed to stop doing. I released my lip with a heavy sigh. What I would do for a stiff drink right then…

I had closed my eyes unintentionally, and when I opened then, I swore again. My captor had the idea that captives had no right to personal space and was sticking his face so close to mine his nose was a hair's breathe away. He backed off at the sound and laughed; it was incredibly cruel and I bit my lip again to keep from telling him to shut the hell up.

He was a blonde haired, blue eyed German officer; all tucked up in his green-gray uniform and hat. I noted his hair was a little longer than mine – just enough to look uncut without looking sloppy. He accessorized with black knee-high boots and black gloves, a thin black belt around his waist and a black chain and swastika around his neck. He had the air of being a snotty, stick-up-the-ass gentlemen who knew nothing of what went on below the poverty line. He was made to be in that spot, I suspected; raised to look down upon people like they were dogs. My breathe caught in my throat when I noticed he was clutching daintily at a riding crop.

He finally stopped laughing at took his turn to stare at me. I must have looked a mess, bleeding and chained up like I was. I heard a clanking of metal and my chains retreated above my head, pinning my hands to the wall. The officer smirked, nonchalantly lifting my chin with the tip of his crop.

"Ah. A fine specimen, to be sure. Russian, I presume." He said, his milky voice ringing in my ears. I spat out a glob of blood, hitting his shoe.

"How do you know?" I asked, a snarl on my face. He chuckled and I resisted the urge to kick him in the balls.

"Your accent is not… 'vell… thick enough to be German. And your svearing is certainly Russian." He cooed, tilting my head to the side in inspection. "Auch! Such brutality. I must punish my subordinates for 'urting you so." His clear, blue eyes staring at my bleeding forehead, his lips formed in an almost mocking pout. His eyes then met mine and I could feel him almost looking right through me, staring into my soul. I winced, closing my eyes.

He was starting to give me the heebie-jeebies.

"Poor dear." He cooed again, and I opened my eyes slightly. I didn't want to but I had to know what he was doing. Thankfully, he was no longer invading my space but standing at a distance, contemplating his crop.

"Stop treating me like a child, you sick, twisted…" I didn't get to finish my sentence, he was so fast. I felt, more than saw, his hand collide with my face in the hardest backhand I had ever the fortune to experience. My face felt red and stung worse than my forehead, and a few tears sprung to life behind my eyes.

"How dare you, you ingrate. I vas being nice and you go and insult me like I'm some… 'ore you picked off ze streets. I vill not stand for eet!" I looked up at his face, which had lost any kindness it once had. It was a mixture of hatred, shame and anger, all directed at me.

I felt like I had done some good. Yes, I did. For a second. It seemed Mr. Cropbutt had noticed my smile, and he did not like it at all.

"You weibchen!" He snarled, using a word which, ironically enough, I happened to be quite familiar with. He then hit me again, this time on the other side of my face, and much harder. I shook my head to clear the stars, and tears, from my vision before I managed to find my tongue.

"Now, listen. I will tolerate being hit, being lieutenant-napped, and being tied up with awful ropes, but I will NOT be called a weibchen. Besides, it refers to a girl, and I'm much more of a man than you, you schlampe!" I spat back at him. His face lost what little color it had and turned to a look of pure shock. I was pleased with his reaction to having an insult thrown at him in his own language. It must have been surprising to hear a Russian speak so fluently in German. At least, to him it was.

"How DARE you! You are not fit to speak Deutsch, you slimy Russian vorm!" He regained some color and spat in my face as he said this. I spat back in his face for a reply. There was complete silence for a few moments, one equal contemplating how to break the other and visa-versa. All he did was stare at me with his hatful, beady blue eyes.

Finally, he snapped his fingers and my chain let loose, sending me to the floor in a heap. I got off the ground, in pain, and raised my fist to hit him. He slapped me even harder than the second time and sent me to the ground, cheek bruised and red. I groaned out loud, my head swirling around like I had had a few too many vodkas. I managed to gain my footing on all fours, my rope loosened enough for me to rub my face, when I felt a heavy boot shove me back to the ground.

"You vill alvays remember my name, you Russian vorm. You vill 'ave my name scarred so deep into your memory that you vill scream eet in your nightmares. I vill 'aunt your dreams forever, you filthy dog." He pressed his face close to my ear, whispering in his thick accent. I could smell sauerkraut and cigar smoke on his breathe.

"You know, I never actually learned your name in the first place, you stupid kraut." I spat at him, and he pressed my face into the concrete of the floor with his boot.

"You vill now." He snarled, a slight chuckle in his voice. I couldn't see anything; my face was pressed up so close too the ground, but I heard footsteps. Soft and feminine, two pairs of them. I suddenly felt my shirt being pulled up over my head and down to my bounded hands, exposing my bare back. I felt a cold hand press up against my shoulder blade and shivered.

"This von't 'urt vone bit. My name is Ferdinand Karte. I vant to 'ear you scream eet to the heavens, boy. Scream eet as loud as you can." He snarled into my ear. His cold hand left my back and I relaxed slightly, forgetting about the riding crop he carried.

I felt the cold leather strike my back and bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain. I barely heard him ask me his name, but my head was swimming to much for me to reply. I felt the leather on my back again, this time breaking skin, and I cried out. I couldn't help it. After the third strike, I blacked out completely; oblivious to what the rest of the world decided to do with me.

---

Ferdinand's POV

I spat on Borya's bloody back, after twenty or so more swipes with my crop. I was furious with the man; he had forgotten my identity already. That ingrate of a Russian should have remember the father of the boy he called his godchild. I stared at the slim, bloody frame of the man I resented so much and stalked out of the room. I needed some coffee, and someone was going to get themselves hurt if they didn't get it to me right then.

My little subordinates, the little women who kidnapped Borya in the first place, recognized my 'I-want-coffee-NOW' face and rushed to find a clean mug. I collapsed into a chair, tossing my riding crop off to the side and propping my feet up onto the hunk of wood we called a table. Living in a bunker was no picnic; it was small, cramped, and completely made of stone in this dump. Plus, we stored enough gunpowder and paper work in the lowest floor that one misplaced cigar stub and we'd all blow up.

Not that that would be any problem as long as I wasn't there.

Once I had coffee placed at my feet I sat up and propped my elbows on the table. I was incredibly bored, after such a festival of torture. My eyes drifted to Borya's file and I scowled. That stupid man had the gall to call my son his godchild. I never asked him to be his godfather, and neither did his mother. I spat on his photo and stood, taking my coffee to my make-shift room.

I sat down on my bunker, donned my reading glasses and tried to read some in a book I was trying to finish. But Borya was still on my mind. He was quite fun to toy around with; he screamed even after he fell unconscious. I wanted to put my crop to his back more and more every time I thought about it, but I had to remind myself that if I did, he would die. And then, what's left to torture? Dead people certainly don't scream.

"Berta! Carla!" I called my subordinates by name this time, hoping they would be a little please to see me. Sadly, they weren't. It seems that I should have never had told them _why_ I needed new subordinates. They would have like me so much more if I had left out the part about how my last two girls died. Now they were always so skittish and jumpy around me. It almost made me cry, it was so depressing.

"Can you ladies please see to our… _guest_, and make sure he doesn't die on us? I would hate to have such a pretty face go to waste, ja?"


	7. Love and War

Finally, a new chapter. Slight Alina/Sanji, more siblingly than anything. No flames, k? Alina/Sanji is my crack bebe and is not to be taken as anything more than crushing over something. ZoroSanji and AlinaBorya are still canon.

**_CHAPTER SIX: LOVE AND WAR _**

_Recap: "Can you ladies please see to our… guest, and make sure he doesn't die on us? I would hate to have such a pretty face go to waste, ja?" _

Sanji's POV

I pulled on the fluffy coat over my undershirt, my jacket probably burnt to a cinder in the wreckage of the building. It was still terribly cold under the coat, even though it was so large and fluffy. I shivered slightly as a cold breeze blew in through the windows and sacrificed any heat left in our little room. Alina noticed, and walked over to me, her own coat half on.

"Sanji?" She asked, looking me over, hesitating. "You don't have your jacket. You must be terribly cold." She commented, giving a nod to my shaking arms. "Look, I have Borya's coat with me. Take it. It'll keep you warm." She pulled out the blue fabric and handed it to me, avoiding my eyes slightly. I took it, smiling with gratitude, and heaved my coat back off. I put Borya's thin coat on and put the fluffy one over top. As I put on my hat, the fabric crossed my face and it hit me.

Have you ever had a coat and the first thing you noticed was how it smelled? That's what hit me. About a thousand smells hit me all at once and I stopped for a minute, hands still holding my hat, taking it all in.

It smelled of cigars, nicotine, wood-smoke and oil. It smelled of cinnamon, dog breathe, gasoline, and gunpowder. It smelled of clean laundry, spring rain, and after-shave. It smelled of snow and ice, of fresh cut grass and vanilla. It smelled of fresh leather, coffee grounds and pine needles. It smelled of whiskey, vodka, and strawberries. And it had this musky smell that was deep yet still light on the senses, something I had never smelled before. I presumed that was Borya's own smell, which I had to admit didn't smell as bad as I originally thought it would.

And then there was this light smell, so light it was almost lost in everything else. It smelled of raspberries, gunpowder and something else that I couldn't place. I shrugged the thought off and finished with the task of my hat, rejoicing that it made my ears feel so warm. Having both coats on made me feel much better and drove out the cold. And the boots were wonderfully warm and soft, too. I loved the feeling of being so warm when it's so cold.

I was so busy being warm that I was almost left behind. I heard Zoro and Alina call for me from behind me and I spun around to see that they were all waiting outside. I rushed out after them, the cold of the snow hitting me like I had run into a wall.

Once everyone was together, we started off toward a smaller, shack like building on the horizon. In my reckoning, it seemed a mile or so away, but after every few yards the building drew no closer. The sun was beginning to set behind the little thing, and I was wondering if we'd actually reach it by nightfall.

Only then did I notice that Alina had fallen back to walk beside me, her shoulders up by her ears in reaction to the cold. She was blowing on her hands, trying desperately to keep them warm in their little green fingerless gloves.

The sky was darkening quickly, faster than we were walking, and only now could I see the ground on which the little shack sat. Alina was slowing sidling closer to me as the light faded, but she acted as though I wasn't there.

"Alina, is there any reason you're slowing getting closer to me or are you just drifting?" I asked quietly. She started, quickly taking a step away from me. My hand found her shoulder and I pulled her back over. "I don't mind, I'd just like to know."

"I can't see at night. At all." She looked up at me, cheeks stained red from the cold. "It's habit. When it gets dark I always walk as close as I can to Borya, since he has fair night vision and won't mind leading me around like a puppy. You remind me of him, especially when it gets darker. I just moved without thinking."

"Well, until we get Borya back, I don't mind leading you around." I said, smiling. She smiled back and scooted a step closer, her elbow barely pressing into my side. "Besides, you're really warm."

"You two stop flirting and keep walking! We're almost there and stopping now will only make you colder!" Aleksandr called from in front of us. He was a good ways away, and I realized we had stopped walking without thinking.

"Sanji, if we run we can get to the station before it gets completely dark." Alina said, her eyes taking in distance and the level of the sun quickly. I followed her gaze to the open door and the promise of heat, and gave her a quick nod. We both broke out into an all out sprint, even though the knee deep snow made it harder to run. I got to the open door first and turned around, looking for Alina. She wasn't there.

"Alina!" I called out for her, half in panic, as the last rays of light disappeared behind the snow-banks. I couldn't see anything out in the pitch blackness, though the buildings stood out blacker than the sky behind them and the snow was a bit lighter than the rest.

"Where's Alina?" I heard Zoro ask from behind me, his hand covering mine on the door-frame. I felt the panic rising in my throat as I managed to let out something remotely like 'She's gone' and dashed off into the snow. My mind kept reminding me about her lack of night vision and I mentally cursed myself for even asking. I made it to the point where we started running and called out for her again, panic evident in my voice. I heard it echo across the white wasteland we had crossed, and when it stopped all I could hear was my own heartbeat in my chest.

After a moment, my eyes caught a dark shape in the snow, what I once mistook as a shadow. I rushed over towards it and tripped on something hidden deep below me, landing in the deep snow with a muffled thud. I scrambled back onto my hands and knees and crawled forward, heart pounding.

Alina was lying on her side in the snow, her knees curled up to her chest. She couldn't see me in the darkness, and was trying to keep warm in the frozen icy snow she was laying in. I reached out and touched her shoulder, and she started, her eyes looking around for nothing. She looked only slightly panicked, like she knew someone would come for her.

"Alina, it's me, Sanji." I spoke softly, looking behind me. If I had learned one thing from the few days I had been in that world, I had learned that yelling always brought trouble. Alina took a moment to react, and then threw her arms around my neck. She was soaked with snow and ice and the tips of her fingers looked like they had a slight blue-ish tinge.

"Thank the Motherland!" He muttered into the wet fabric that was once a warm, fluffy coat. "I knew you'd come for me. I tripped and I didn't want to get lost out here." She relaxed into me, and I helped her stand where we were. It took a minute to convince her to let go of my neck and latch onto my arm instead, but finally I managed to do so and we started off slowly toward the shack. Again.

Halfway there, Alina suddenly, and rather violently, fell, sending both of us careening into the wet snow.

"Alina, what happened?" I asked her, after getting out of the mush enough to sit up. She was clutching at her ankle with a look of annoyance and pain on her red face.

"I think I sprained my ankle when I tripped. Walking must have warmed it up enough to hurt again." She half snarled, glaring indignantly at her ankle like it would feel better if it knew her wrath. I chuckled softly at her face and offered her my hand to help her up. She accepted and we stood, though she was rather awkward since she was on only one leg. She put her arm around my shoulders for support and once she was comfortable with standing we continued on our route to the shack.

We had only just gotten there when we were greeted enthusiastically. Though we were cold, wet, tired and numb around the fingers, we were still fine enough to be ushered into the room and given a cup of hot cocoa. It was so warm in that little cabin I never wanted to leave. Our coats were hung by the fire to dry, along with any other articles of clothing that could be spared. Alina was sitting beside me, using me to lean on as Aleksandr wrapped up her ankle. Zoro sat on my other side, snoozing. The fire crackled in the hearth as Alina tucked her legs up under her, leaning even more on me. Aleksandr and Tanya sat on her other side, close together with the lack of room on the one little sofa. After a moment, I felt myself drifting off to sleep, with one last thought crossing my mind over and over.

That last smell that I couldn't place was Alina. She smelled nice, for a war hero.


End file.
